Means for refrigerating cars.



LE ROY M. LYON.

MEANS FOR REFRIGERATING CARS.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 5. 1905.

924,620. Patented June 8, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

LE ROY M. LYON.

MEANS POR REPRIGERATING GARS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 5. 1905.

Patented June y8, 1909.

l'lluclll'o:

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' improvements in' Means for. RefrigeratingL on-iran srarns PATENT OFFOE.

i LEROY M; LYON, Ol" CRANFORD, NEW JERSEY.

MEANS FOR REFRIGERTING CARS.

Specification oi' Letters Patent.

Patented .Tune 8, 1909 Application led August 5, 1905, Serial No. 272,801.

To all whomv 'itma'y concern:

Be it known that l`, LE ROY M. LYON, a citizen vof the United States, residing at Cranford, Union county, State of New Jersey, "have invented certainnew and useful Cars,o of which the following is such a full, clear, and exact description as will enable any one skilled in the art to which it apper tains to make and use thesame, referencebeing-had` to the accompanying drawings,

formingpart of this specification. f Y

In transporting fruit or vegetables or the like particularly in railway cars, the practice is often adopted of usin'g a closed car in .which there is arrangedfone orzmore com-l partments adapted to contain ice 4for the purpose of cooling the-interior of the-car dur- 1n transportationand in sodoing the fruit is oaded into the cars in a ve Warm condition, the ,temperature of the ruit often being above 100 degrees and after the car is loaded and closel upthe cooling agency of the ice is depen ed u on to coo off the interior of the car an thereby reduce the temperature of the contents so that the same may be transported in good condition. A serious drawback to this old way of transporting fruit is that the high temperature of the fruit when loaded into the car is retained by the fruit for a comparatively long period,

tents accordlngly are raised and the fruit left 1n a cond1t1on 1n which it will shortly perish..

By my resent invention I seek to overcome the rawbacks to theold method, by reducing the temperature of-the fruit or vegfetables as the are loaded into. the car or shortly thereafter, so that when the caris started in transit its contents are reduced to the minimum temperature at which it can be substantially maintained by the ice comj-' partments inthe ear or other cooling me.-

, dium .used in suchcars and this way the loe or other cooling agent isjnot called upon to reduce the temperature of the fruit; but 1t 1s rese h l'dito maintain the interior of the 'c'ar athreduced temperature when onceV it is established by my method.-

:To theseends'rnyr invention consists in the various novel and peculiar combinations of the several lparts of the apparatus, all as hereinafter fully described and then pointed out in the claims.

I have illustrated t es of my invention in the accompanying rawings, wherein:

having my improved apparatus applied thereto yfor reducing the temperature of the contents of the car,one end'of the car being broken away and shown vin vertical section the plane of which extends vertically7 through o`ne of, the ice compartments. Fig. 2 is a top plan view ofthe car, with the doors of two of the ice compartments therein open while the doors of the other two ice com )artments are tional'view of the u per part of one end of the car .with the air blast p1 e connection and spray device ,mounted in p ace above the ice compartment. Fig. 4. is a side view of a short train of refrigerati'ng cars with my improved apparatus con ected up therewith for reducing the tem era nre of the contents within .the cars. igs. 5 and 6 show, respectively, modifications of the apparatus, as will be herein/after explained, each of these views showing the body of a car in vertical section. Referring to the drawings in which like 'numbers of reference designate like parts throughout, 1 is a closed railway car having in each corner thereof a vertically arranged box or compartment 2, which is adapted to contain ice 3A for'cooling the interior of the car. (The upper end' of each ice-compartment 2, is provided with a filling hole 4 having a plug 5, While in the roof of the car isan o ening G'having a hinged cover or door 7 t erefor. The lower art of each ice-compartment 2 isprovide with a grating or dripplate 8, beneath which is a catch basm or re- 'f'ceptacle 9, formed referably of metal and in the bottom of Whic is a Waste-pipe 10, hav- 4ing a hand operated valve 1,1, or opening and closing the same. f I* A suctionTdevice 12 is connected with a suitable part of the iqlterior of the'car to readily extract or exhaust the air therefrom, and this is` done with considerable force by this device which maybe anordinary exhausting or vacuum pump or blower. I find that by merelyforclbly extracting the air from the car, the warmt' fruit or vegetables placed Figure l is a side view of a closed fruit car closed. Fig. Slis an enlarge Yvertical sec-- vtherein are reduced in temperature, and furloo as 5 2 degrees ther, that by drawing-in the outer air into the interior of the car, at a definite point or points and subjecting such incoming air to a moistening or coolin means, such vfor instance as ice or Wet c oths o'r as ray of water, and then rapidly, extracting fii'om the interior of the car the air thus treated in its introduction therein, that the temperature of ythefruit -is quickly reduced toa very low point. In practice, I have succeeded in reducing the tem erature within thecar as low by forcing the air through the moistening or cooling medium before it is introduced into the car and rapidly extracting it therefrom, and this at a time when the fruit was taken from exposure in the sun at 130 de ees F., and the normal temperature of the car Abeing about 110 degrees. I have accomplished this low reduction of temperature by means o'f v,the air being passed through wet cloths alone, without the use of ice or other refrigerantz, f '1 In the use ofvapparatus like that herein illustrated, I have connected 'the suctionpipe of thesuction-device with the interior of the car, generally throughthe opening in'the top of one of the' ice-com artme'nts for` the sa e of convenience, so t at the air blown into the said ice-compartment is cooled in its passage through the same, and is then circuated through the car and rapidlyfextracted therefrom through the other ice-compartment with which the suction-pipe is connect- 'ed. Inthis way the reduction of the tenrperature of the air in passing throu h the icecompartment from which it is suc ed, is almost immediately utilized by the suction-device blowing it back into another ice compartment and thence into the 4interior of the` car again. In some cases I have blown the air from the suction-device into the wasteo ening of anV ice-compartment and have t us utilized the cold-water whichraccumulates therein from the melting ice, and in fact, in so doing, all of this ice-water has been consumed by being sprayed into the blast of. air lforced into the car.` l

In the apparatus herewith shown the suction-pipe 13 of the vacuum pump or suctiondevice 12 is extended upwardly so as to reach a point somewhat above and to one side of the car, when the same is standing on its track and frm a branch pipe 14 thereof extends a flexible other flexl e material-which is droppedin cover 5 of anice-compartment. A similar pipe connection 17 is extended from the exit or blowing nozzle of the suction-device 12 to a suitable point above the carrtrack andV to Y onelside thereof, and this likewise provided with a short branch piece 18 to whlch is detachably connected a flexible pipe or tube 19 pipedfmade of suitable canvas or.

which may likewise be droppedthrough a hole 20 in the vcenter of the cover 5 of another ice compartment. The u per part of the ice-compartment into whic i the air is forced from the blow pipe 17 is provided with a suitable cloth 21 which is continually moistened durin(y the operation of the apparatus., In Fig. 3 show an attachment which is adapted to be applied to the to i of' the ice compartment into which the air last lis conducted, such compartment comprising a downwardly flaring or conical shaped body 22 over the upperend 23 of which is fitted the end of the flexible ipe 19. `The lower part of this body 22 is ac apted to rest on the f2.9 is ejected therefromvdwn upon the cloth 26 so as to form a cooling medium which for the time being may be used instead of ice as such cooling medium, it being understood that in my apparatus either these wet cloths or the water spray or the ice may be used as the moistening and cooling medium.

In the operation of the apparatus thus described, the suction-device or vacuum pump being started up forcibly extracts the air from the ice-compartment 2 with which it is con-i nected, the air being drawn from the interior of the car through suitable openings 2a connecting each compartment at suitably s aced points with the interior of the car. T e air thus being drawn from the interior of' the car is replaced by air coming from the ice compartment 2 with which the blast pipe -17 is connected, so that a continuous process is maintained of drawing the air from the` interior of the car through the suction-pipe of the suction-device, passing it through such device and then forcibly injecting it back into the car through an ice-compartment. Under this condition, the injected air in passing through the wet cloth/and around theky ice in the compartment is thoroughly moistened and cooled and is forced thence through the interior of thecar and. around' l I;

and over -or through the contents thereof' which are indicated at 30in Fig. 1 and after 120 car is immediately and forciblyl sucked out through another ice/ compartment vvitlf,v

extracting the heat from the contents of the which the suction-pipe 13 is connected. In arranging the apparatus hereinshown,

the suction-device is at a xed point to one side of the car track indicated at`31 and both this manner.

the suction and blast pipes,`13,and. 17 respectively, are carried u to a suitably hi h point and along the ral way track parallel therewith so as to be off to one side of the cars when standing on the trackv and at a suitable oint above the tops thereof, and the flexibl 19 are made sufliciently long vin order to reach well over upon the to of the car and particularly in cases Where use two diagonally opposite ice-compartments which are located 1n' the corners of the cars. This `arrangement gives considerable latitudeto the movement of the cars and in fact thcv need not be accurately adjusted on the traclr relatively to the apparatus and thus considerable time is saved in connecting up the apparatus to subject the contents of the cars to my method of reducing the temperature thereof. A train of cars is shown in Fig. 4 as being connected up with my improved apparatus to cool the contents of each of the cars and it will be understood that any type of motor or driving'power may be used for the vacuum ump or exhaust 12.

Instead of connecting the blast pipe 17 of the suction device with one of the compartments, this may be omitted andthe suctionpipe 13 may alone be utilized by connecting it at a suitable point to extract the air from the interior of the car, air being let into the p car through one of the ice-compartments, as indicated in the construction shown in Fi 5;

In some cases I have connected the b ast or blowing pipe 17 of the blower 12 directly with the waste ipe 10 of the compartment, so that by opening the. valve 11 thereof and forcing the air in at this point and using a deflector 32 fordriving the air-through the water coming from the melting ice, such cold water is taken u by the incoming air an is passed through t e openings 2? into the body of the car and 'thence out through another ice-compartment to the exterior air. In operating the apparatus in this way, I avail myself of the cold temperature of the water 33 comin from the melted'ice and have found that a of this water may beconsumed in is shown in Fig. 6.

In some cases I a paratus whilethe fruit is bemg loaded into tlfe cars, which are rovided with the usual side door 34, (see Fig. 1) so that the reduction of the temperature thereof is at. once started, and when the c ar is illedand the door closed the `method need be' continued but a short while when the entire load becomes reduced to the minimum temperature. The a paratus may thenbe disconnected from t e car and the ice-compartments being supplied with ice,'the car may be started in transit with its contents at practically the e pipe connections or tubes 15 and pipe connected wit This arrangement of the parts start the operation of the` minimum temperature, so that the ice is not I consumed in such reduction of temperature, but is-then utilized to maintain the temperature at this reduced point. In other words,

when the car is in transit, the ice or other repi frigerant has but the one function to perform, namely, that of keepin the temperature'at the reduced point to w `ch my'method has brou ht itv before the car is started and before t eV ice is stored for final use in the comartments. It will thus be seen that while use the ice for the time being to moisten and cool the air blast or other current of air in the method', that whatever ice is thus consumed is replaced before the car starts in transitl and that as a matter of fact, the consumption of the ice in coolin the air current in my method is4 very small. have also found that by starting up the action of the apparatus while the car'is being loaded that m some cases itfacilitates the work ofloading the fruit as soon as it is loaded in the car, the ob- 'ections just stated are overcome and the andling of the fruit is made easier.

The ordinary refrigerating car is practically closed at all points against the admis-v sion of air, so that when in my method one of the ice-compartments is opened vto admit the air, that is practically the only point at which it can enter the car. f

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patl ent is I l 1. 'The combination of a closed car having separate ice-compartments Veach in communication with the mterior of the car, a suction device havingV its suction pipe connected with one of said ice com artments and its exhaust q1 the other, whereby the air may be forcibly extracted from the interior of the'car throu h one ice compartment and passed throug said suction device thence backthrough another ice compartment into the interior of the car, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In means for refrigerating cars, a car body provided with a chamber at each end for a refrigerant` and an interposed storage chamber for perishable matter, the walls of said refrigerant chambers having openings at to wilththe storage chamber, an air circulating device having its suction and delivery sides connected respectively to said refrigerant chambers through openings distinct from the and bottom communicating directly` openings between said refrigerant chambers and storage chamber, whereby a divided forced draft of air is Caused to flow from the top and bottom of one refrigerant Chamber 5 through the Storage chamber and into the top and bottom of the other refrigerant chamber.

In testimony whereof, have hereunto set my hand in the presence of the two subscribing witnesses.

LE ROY M. LYON. Witnesses:

FREDERICK W. HAMBERG, WILLIS FowLER. 

